Our first, second, and third concerns: science, science, and science
Because of how we’re structured, how we conduct our research, and the elite collection of scientists we have working with us, the Buck is in a unique position to define the approach for solving many of the biggest problems facing the world today. The Buck’s leadership works every day to ensure our scientists have the support and resources they need as they tackle these immense challenges.
President and CEO
Dr. Eric Verdin
Eric Verdin is the president and chief executive officer of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. A native of Belgium, Dr. Verdin received his Doctorate of Medicine (MD) from the University of Liege and completed additional clinical and research training at Harvard Medical School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Brussels, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Picower Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Verdin is also a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Verdin joined the Buck in 2016 after spending the previous 20 years as a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, where he served as associate director from 2004 to 2016.
Dr. Verdin’s laboratory focuses on the role of epigenetic regulators in the aging process. His laboratory was the first to clone a family of enzymes called HDACs, which regulate histone acetylation. Dr. Verdin studies how metabolism, diet, and small molecules regulate the activity of HDACs and sirtuins, and thereby the aging process itself and its associated diseases, including Alzheimer’s. He has published more than 210 scientific papers and holds more than 15 patents. He is a highly cited scientist and has been recognized for his research with a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging and a senior scholarship from the Ellison Medical Foundation. He is an elected member of several scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians. He also serves on the advisory council of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH.









Contact for more information
and Scientific Operations
Jill Stevens Kinney
Chair of the Board of Trustees
With more than 30 years of experience, Jill Kinney is an industry leader in the world of health and fitness. After founding Club One in 1991, Jill built it into a $90 million business with over 3,000 employees. She repurchased the company in 2014 and expanded its scope by establishing one of the first fitness/healthcare partnerships. Today, the company, now known as Active Wellness, is among the largest fitness management companies in the US. Jill is also a pioneer in digital health, having merged her weight loss and behavior improvement program, Itrim, with the digital wellcare platform Moni Health, a medically reimbursable, clinically validated weight loss and behavioral change program. Jill attended UC Berkeley and lives in Marin County.


Andy is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, and is a former White House Fellow and German Marshall Fund Fellow. He also completed post graduate work at the Institut de Science Politique. He serves on the boards of Greenbelt Alliance and SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Development), and is a past chair of both organizations’ boards.





David spent much of his career at Gensler, the largest design firm in the world with 46 offices in 16 countries. Gensler provides architecture, design, planning and consulting services to over 2,500 clients. During his 23 years there, he helped grow the company from 500 people and $60M of revenue to over 5,000 people and $1.1B of revenue. He led the firm’s consulting practice, started the firm’s information solutions practice, was a Regional Managing Principal of EMEA, was the Chief Operating Officer and served on Gensler’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee for 12 years. For the last 10 years of his career there he was Co-CEO. As co-CEO, he was responsible for the firm’s operational infrastructure, including Finance, Global Talent, Legal/Risk Management, Communications, Public Relations, Practice Area Marketing, Applications Development, Technology, Global Advisory Services, Design Practice, and Research. David also had oversight responsibility for the firm’s EMEA, Asian and South American practices.
Prior to his career at Gensler, David worked across a number of fields including Financial Services at Morgan Stanley and the Pacific Stock Exchange, Technology at Microsoft and Datis Corp. and Management Consulting at Edgar, Dunn and Company.
Mr. Gensler holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College. David lives in Sebastopol California, is an active athlete and has four daughters.


Mike was president of the Association of Engineering Contract Employers in 2000 and is co-chair of the California Save the Missions Foundation.

Jim is passionate about responsible business leadership. Throughout his career, he has volunteered and served on the boards of many philanthropic organizations, including UCSF’s Global Health Group. He is a leader in diversity and inclusion through community boards, with a focus on gender equity and underserved youth. Jim graduated from San Diego State.










Wendye received her BS from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in anesthesiology and pain at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions. She served as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSF from 1995-2000 and has been teaching faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2002. She is board certified in anesthesiology.

Seeking to encourage intellectual diversity in public discourse, The Rosenkranz Foundation initiated Intelligence Squared U.S., a live debate series aimed at fostering reasoned discussion on pertinent policy matters. The series reaches a national audience via 220 NPR radio stations and several digital media platforms. Robert has also offered substantial support to Yale University through the activities of the foundation, funding 20 new courses, a writers’ residency, and a number of legal education initiatives supporting intellectual diversity.
Robert serves on the Board of Directors of Policy Exchange, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Visiting Committee for the Department of Photography and the Dean’s Council of the Yale School of Architecture.




Mr. Steck is a member of the board of Aravo Solutions, Inc. an enterprise software company addressing the issue of third party risk and compliance. He is Chairman of DNP, a holding company with a major investment in Thorne Research, a science based health and wellness company. Mr. Steck has served in many capacities on the UC Santa Barbara Foundation Board including Chairman and vice-Chairman of Development.
Mr. Steck is a private investor with interests in entrepreneurship, education, and environment. He is the sole donor and a trustee of the Fredric E. Steck Family Foundation in Santa Ynez.



Paul is President Emeritus of the College of William & Mary, has been Dean of the Tulane Law School and the Cardozo School of Law, and was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of Law. He is a graduate of William and Mary and the University of Virginia School of Law and holds a J.S.D. from the New York University School of Law. Among his career highlights is serving as Special Master in New Jersey v. New York, an original jurisdiction case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which determined sovereignty over Ellis Island. Verkuil also practiced law at several leading New York City law firms and served as CEO of the American Automobile Association. Paul serves on the Advisory Board of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and on the Boards of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation and the Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust.


Co-Director, Einstein Institute for Aging Research
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
UCSF School of Medicine
Stanford University
Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Research
Howard Hughes Medical Investigator
University of California, Berkeley
Professor, Laboratory of Genetics
Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease
The Salk Institute
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Director, UConn Center on Aging, University of Connecticut
Chief, Geriatric Medicine, UConn Health
Director, Memory and Aging Center
University of California, San Francisco
Princeton University
Professor, Neurology, UCLA & Stanford
Harvard Medical School
Professor & Chair, Dept of Biochemistry/Biophysics, UCSF
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Mr. La Follette received a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. Mr. La Follette resides in San Francisco with his wife, Ellen. They have four grown children that all attended Harvard as well.
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